THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 18, 1996 TAG: 9604180383
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: TOKYO LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
President Clinton on Wednesday told U.S. sailors of his continued commitment to the U.S.-Japan security alliance as he wound up a visit to Japan that is being seen here as an important milestone in the relationship between the world's two leading economic powers.
``We can do this because you are here, backing our commitments with your power,'' Clinton told 5,000 crew members and their families on the carrier Independence, which is based in Japan. Clinton said that dispatching the warship to the Taiwan Strait during recent Chinese missile tests and military maneuvers ``helped calm a rising storm.''
``Without firing a single shot, you reassured nations all around the Pacific. With the quiet power of your example, you gave the world another example of America's power and America's character,'' Clinton told the crew.
Clinton's visit to the ship came just hours after he and Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto signed a new joint declaration on security - an agreement committing the United States to continuing its sizable military presence in Asia, including about 100,000 U.S. troops.
Among those aboard the Independence on Wednesday were the crew of the Japanese naval ship Myoko, several of whom seemed choked with emotion when saluted by the American president.
``Fifty years ago,'' Clinton said, ``no one would have believed that an American carrier and a Japanese cruiser could be berthed side by side, that our forces would work shoulder to shoulder, day in and day out.''
In Clinton's speech this morning to the Japanese Diet, or parliament, he is expected to reiterate the importance of the ``maturing'' security relationship between the old World War II foes, the central theme of his two-day state visit to Japan.
For nearly 50 years, the United States has been almost exclusively responsible for Japan's military protection, but Clinton said the agreements he signed this week with Hashimoto ensure that Japan will take a more active role.
Administration officials said the newly signed agreement is of historic importance, a landmark step toward the United States being able to depend more on Japan for military backing in Asian conflicts.
This week Japan made crucial agreements to provide logistical support, from gasoline to civilian runways, to U.S. troops in peacetime. And, perhaps most importantly, it pledged to study whether it might take a more active role in the event of war.
U.S. officials said Japan is far from ready to send troops into battle alongside U.S. forces, and they said that is not something the United States wants anyway. But Japan has now guaranteed to be a vigorous partner in almost all other kinds of operations. And that is enormously significant, they said, with China growing ever more assertive and North Korea continuing its dangerous brinkmanship.
Clinton has taken a positive line on trade so far during this summit, so as not to distract from his security message. Although serious differences remain on issues such as insurance, semiconductors and photographic film, those frictions are being kept in the background. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
President Clinton is welcomed Wednesday by crew members of the
carrier Independence as he visits the warship at the U.S. Naval Base
in Yokosuka, west of Tokyo.
by CNB